NEU joins the fight: five ways to build the strike
Real world tips on what to do in your school.
South London marches against racist policing
The demonstration was a visible display of the type of solidarity we need when the Tories’ hostile environment targets some of the most precarious workers in our communities.
NEU: preparing for the fight of our lives
Supporting teachers to refuse unsafe work is the NEU’s immediate and overwhelming priority, but we also need to learn the lessons from last June and ballot for strike action.
Why schools must prepare to run remotely until half term
The government’s mass testing plan will not make schools Covid-secure. Schools cannot fully reopen safely until case numbers have been brought down.
London protest demands safe passage
Protestors gathered outside the Home Office to demand safe passage for migrants making the crossing over the Channel and held a vigil for a Sudanese young person who died making the crossing.
Johnson’s 1 June plans in tatters – how do we build our strength?
Rob Owen argues that the NEU has won a convincing, but not complete, victory over the government and addresses how we develop workplace organisation in the coming weeks.
Why schools can’t ‘reopen’ until safe
Rob Owen explains why teachers, not ministers, must be central to judging how and when it’s safe to return.
A united front against US aggression: difficult but necessary
Rob Owen argues that revolutionaries need to engage with the anti-war movement that exists to build the one we need On Tuesday 4 April two U.S. warships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Al Shayrat airfield in Syria. The airport was the base from which the Assad regime had carried out the Sarin gas attack […]
Fighting for the NHS, a moment for Corbynism
Rob Owen reflects on the largest demonstration for the NHS in recent memory.
revolutionary reflections | Rank and File Organising – Lessons from America 1
The International Socialist tradition has always believed in socialism from below – which means that socialism can only come about by the self-activity of the working class. In this interview Rob Owen spoke to labour organiser Jane McAlevey about her experience of rank and file organising in the US since the 1960s, and their views […]
After Brexit: Keeping our heads when all around are losing theirs
By Rob Owen June 24th was a dark morning. Colleagues at school arrived shell shocked at a result no one expected. Friend after friend asked in worried tones what the result would mean. Meshed with disbelief were two common fears: that Britain had crashed into economic chaos and that a previously hidden, racist and narrow […]
Reclaiming the future – new rs21 magazine out on Saturday
The Spring 2016 issue of the rs21 magazine will be out on Saturday. Order your copy or subscribe here*. Below, Rob Owen gives an overview of the new edition. Part of the union? What should socialists argue in the EU referendum? Our hot topic section lays out the different anti-capitalist arguments around how to approach the referendum. […]
EU referendum: A crisis of the right, not an opportunity for the left
Rob Owen continues our debate on the EU referendum by arguing the left can abstain from the vote without abstaining from the politics. How to respond to a referendum is a tactical question that requires careful consideration of the political context it takes place in, the questions at stake and whether it presents a chance to […]
The secret life of the NHS – new rs21 magazine out on Saturday
The January 2016 issue of the rs21 magazine will be out on Saturday. Order your copy or subscribe here. Below, Rob Owen gives an overview of the new edition. Issue includes: The secret life of the NHS, the life of a junior doctor, by Sophie Walton Joe Sabatini and Tabitha Spence looking at climate politics from […]
Corbyn: What Next? Issue 5 of rs21 magazine
Rob Owen writes on the political context around the launch of our new magazine. Issue 5 will be available on the demonstration outside the Tory party conference in Manchester this Sunday. The world around us has changed. When our last issue went to press the English (and Welsh) radical left was still bruised from the […]
ACAB from Warwick to NYC
Whether it’s killing black people in America or London, or attacking peaceful student protesters at Warwick University with CS spray, cops worldwide are racist and violent. Rob Owen looks at why that is. You have the emergence in human society Of this thing that’s called the State What is the State? The State is this organized […]
The changing face of imperialism
Ukraine and Syria have put imperialism back at the top of the political agenda. Rob Owen traces the theory of imperialism and charts the trajectory of US imperialism in recent years.
Marxism 2014 in review: “There are no new ideas”?
Rob Owen reviews the largest conference of the revolutionary left this year. Marxism 2014, the annual political festival organised by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), maintained its place as the largest Marxist conference in the UK. Although at 2600 registrations it was slightly smaller than in 2013 and half the size of previous years. The […]
NUT election: Why we should vote for the radical left
With one week left in the National Union of Teachers General Secretary election, NUT activist Rob Owen, asks how those on the radical left ought to vote The NUT has been one of the few unions to hold the line in the pensions dispute. Almost alone we have continued to strike and organised impressive demonstrations and public […]
Enthusiastic strike for the London Living Wage
Rob Owen reports from Brixton: Workers at The Ritzy cinema in Brixton are on strike today for the London Living Wage. Pickets began at 9am and will continue into the evening. Workers in BECTU, the media and entertainment trade union, gathered with DIY placards and leaflets using film quotes and art house cinema imagery. Ritzy […]
NUT: holding the line or fighting to win?
Rob Owen, Croydon NUT young members officer, argues that, despite the reticence of other unions, if teachers want to defeat Gove’s reforms they need to keep fighting.
Revolutionary organisation and the united front
Rob Owen writes criticising the SWP’s trajectory over the past few years, arguing that it has been based on a false assessment of the working class and is incubating sectarian attitudes to the movement.